sometimes these smaller stars shine brighter than the sun
by sanskrits
Summary: — you are bright, too / the stars watch over five lost demigods
1. percy jackson

_percy jackson_

Is the prophecy his? Is he going to die in a few months?

Percy knows none of the answers to these questions.

 _When will Hades take me?_ he wonders. He does not dwell on this matter for very long.

In cabin three the atmosphere is peaceful and blue with rhythmic sensations of relief in the air. Still Percy is anxious. Still Percy is restless.

He knows he should be a hero, that he should fulfill his destiny, but Percy doesn't really fancy the _dying_ part. Why should he give up his life for a world he'd then no longer be a part of? It seems redundant and _so, so selfless._

See, Percy wants to live, too. He wants to turn eighteen and eat a blue cake with fish on it; he wants to get married and have kids someday; he wants to go to wild parties and get black-out drunk; he wants to graduate college and get a job; _Percy wants to live, too._

Maybe it's selfish of him, but isn't that what everyone else gets to do? _They_ get to live and _they_ don't have to fight evil Titans and _they_ will get all their firsts, _they_ will not get their lives snatched away from the Fates.

Percy knows he is lucky: he is still alive today, and his life has not yet been taken from him.

He remembers those who were not so lucky, who have drifted to the Underworld; the people that are gone but not forgotten.

Bianca di Angelo. Those dead in the Battle of the Labyrinth. Zoë Nightshade — the Huntress.

 _The Huntress,_ thinks Percy with a pang, and thinks of her words: _I can see the stars again, my lady,_ she had said so hopefully, as if it was fine that she was dying since she saw the stars.

Percy looks out the window and up at the stars. _What is so appealing about them?_

Then he sees her. The stars cluster in an awe-striking pose and they form a _something,_ this _something_ that looks like a girl with bow and arrow drawn. The _something_ takes form of the Huntress, and she looks down at him with a slight smile; a smile that says, _I am at peace_.

 _She's watching,_ Percy realizes. _She's here. She's not gone._

The _something_ turns into her, and this _something_ is beyond him, work of gods — beyond this universe. This _something_ is something he cannot name, but it is there. It is there every night in the shape of the Huntress.

It is there every night, watching over him and caring for his soul.

It is there every night, and it gives him hope. If he dies in this war, then maybe someday he will be one with the _something_ , this _something_ he cannot name. It is not a bad thought.

When he thinks of dying, he thinks he will be one with the fascinating _something_ that is simply there and does not worry. He hopes one day, while he is living, he can be, too. Simply there with nothing to worry about.

Perhaps another time — perhaps in another life. Today he will settle for the _something's_ comfort.

 **a/n: i changed my username, pfp, and profile description. my username is now _extramundane epeolatry._ i felt like a change and a renovation because i was really inactive over the summer and everything, so here it is.**

 **this story will be a five-shot, lots of gloom but lots of comfort too. try to guess which demigod i'm doing next. (hint hint, it's not annabeth)**


	2. reyna avila ramírez-arellano

_reyna avila ramírez-arellano_

There is something odd in the air tonight: Reyna feels it, the Odd Feeling tangibly meshed into the atmosphere, her breathing space.

The Roman demigods ask much of her as praetor. Reyna feels like she asks of them too little. Octavian is getting too rowdy again, and he's trying to rally the Cohorts into fighting the Greeks. And Reyna left that situation to help with the war against Gaea, to cross the Mediterranean Sea; the _Mare Nostrum._ The weight of that presses down on her — it combines with the Odd Feeling to create an unpleasant roiling feeling in Reyna's stomach, and that combined with her riding Scipio makes her feel much more anxious and unpleasant.

She sighs. _There was no choice to be made,_ Reyna reminds herself. _Demigods against demigods is one thing, but demigods against primordials is another._

And yet...Reyna feels like she made the wrong decision.

She looks to the skies, about to say a prayer to her mother, Bellona, but she sees something that makes her stop short.

A group of shining stars forms something magnificent: what looks like a girl with a bow and arrow drawn. She is beautiful, with a glowing face of pure light; her face is reassuring. She seems to say, _Hello there. It is fine. You will be alright._

This girl is here right now. Suddenly, Reyna doesn't feel quite so alone. This girl is here right now, and she watches over her, two girls alone in a world where people are malicious and self-serving and where gods are too busy to do anything but watch and where old primordials have nothing better to do than ruin lives — in this world, two girls reside and they are together; in this world, they both have someone to watch.

Reyna understands the Odd Feeling, that thing in the air. It is still there, and it is the feeling of someone else sharing your space where no one else should be — the feeling of a person who does not interfere but simply _is_.

That feeling is there, in the air tonight. Reyna does not find it unsettling, but rather she finds in that feeling the slightest ray of hope — the slightest ray of a thought that speaks; it says, _You have a chance, you are not alone, and you can shine bright._

 _You are bright, too,_ Reyna wants to tell that thought. _You are a collection of smaller stars, but sometimes these smaller stars shine brighter than the sun._

 **this was so fun to write simply because it was really inspiring and because i put the title in there. i wasn't originally planning to but i was just writing this and in my zone so i did...hope you enjoy, because this was certainly enjoyable to write.**

 **which demigod do you think i'll do next? no hints here**


	3. hazel levesque

_hazel levesque_

The sea is a terrible thing, Hazel decides on the rickety old boat. She doesn't know what it's called, but it's what's called the 'Roman Navy.' But Hazel's far from the ground and far from where she is comfortable and she's in Neptune's domain; Neptune with whom her father has a rivalry.

Hazel heaves into a bucket. She doesn't know where Frank and Percy are. Frank hadn't seemed to like the vomiting but had stayed out of the kindness of his Canadian heart — Percy had been manning the ship, last she remembers.

Now it's night — no sign of either of them.

Hazel grimaces. She does not like this. Not at all.

 _Where's the land?_ she wonders.

 _A long, long way ahead,_ Hazel answers herself. She would watch the sea if that didn't make her want to throw up her already meager breakfast; so she watches the sky instead.

She notes the constellations in the skies. Hazel spots Scorpius, its tail flicking in her field of vision. There's the summer triangle: Deneb, Vega, and Altair. There's one other one, too — she doesn't know its name, but it looks like a girl holding a bow and arrow, fierce expression seeming to convey, _Let's talk._

Hazel's mesmerized. How does a constellation — a mere cluster of stars — hold that much emotion? That much expression? There is magic in the stars, she knows, controlled by the Lady Diana, but normally they do not shine out in this way; they don't draw her in this way. Normally stars repel her a little bit. Of course, naturally, they would. Jupiter and Pluto do not get along, either.

 _There's a long road ahead,_ the girl seems to say. _But you'll reach land, and you'll find your path._

 _Land is far off,_ thinks Hazel in reply. _But you are here now. And I will take what I can get._

 **this one's kind of small, i was kind of uninspired. i think it turned out okay, though. all of the other constellations are from _whirligig_ by paul fleischman (reading it as a class novel) and i have no clue about their positions in the sky, sorry for any inaccuracies**


	4. annabeth chase

_annabeth chase_

The _Argo II_ has set sail, and Annabeth can't help but worry. How is Percy? Does he even remember her? Is he a twisted, demented version of him?

 _No,_ she tells herself. _He is alright, and you are alright...maybe after we defeat Gaea._

She is not reassuring herself. Annabeth scowls, then sighs. It's late. She should probably return to her quarters.

But there's something that draws her eyes upward. The stars look beautiful tonight, and the night sky is shining.

Annabeth's observant eyes quickly zero in on one constellation — _The Huntress._ It's Zoё. She doesn't know her very well, but Artemis's former lieutenant had been killed on her rescue mission.

The constellation is beautiful, breathtaking: there's just something in the air, something unnamed. The woman with her bow out is focused on something in the distance, but there is a smile on her face that seems to say _I know something you don't._

 _What?_ Annabeth wants to ask. _What can you tell me? Can you tell me I can make it out of this alive?_

The constellation does not say anything, as expected, but the figure of the former Hesperide seems to pulse, as if answering. _Yes._

… _Will Percy?_ Annabeth thinks.

She thinks she can see Zoё wink at her.

 _That's not the question you should be asking,_ she appears to say.

 _Then,_ thinks Annabeth, _what do you know that I don't?_

Zoё gives her a mischievous look, shrewd. _You'll find out soon enough._

Annabeth does not have all the answers, not today. But she is reassured for now. Sated, because she will get the answers, and no matter what, she will pull through. Because that, at its core, is Annabeth: the kind of girl who pulls through no matter what.


	5. nico di angelo

**a/n: finally got around to finishing this fic**

 _nico di angelo_

Nico hates the stars. They're too bright. Too happy. Too painful to look at; they remind him of Artemis, and by extension, the Hunters, and by that extension, he thinks of Bianca, and then there's a well of sadness and an ache in his chest he _tries, tries, tries_ to forget.

But out here in the middle of nowhere — he can only shadow travel so far, and doing tasks for Hades often sets him on this path — the stars are so visible and they remind him of everything he's lost, like camp and _him_ and _her._

Nico hasn't been to camp in two years. The stars are a thing about camp; they were always there each night. They give him too many feelings; remembering, remembering, remembering. Nico is remembering what happened at camp, the way _she'd_ left him, gone on a quest and never come back.

Nico hates it. He hates it so much.

Nico misses her. He misses her so much and he hates it so much and he hates himself for not going, and he hates Percy Jackson because he needs something more to hate.

Nico hates hating everything.

But he looks up at the stars because there's nowhere else to look, and he sees a girl — for a moment he thinks it's her, but then he looks, and of course it isn't. No one would give her any stars. Bianca was a nothing, one more death in the midst of a sea of everyone else, and who was she to get stars of her own?

No, it's that lieutenant girl. Nico doesn't know her name; he might've, once upon a time, but that was so long ago that even if he had known it he's probably forgotten it by now.

But there is something that makes him look back at her. He doesn't know what it is, but Nico keeps looking at those forsaken stars and that sad look on her face. It's as if she's saying, _I'm sorry. I get it._

A tear drips down Nico's face. _No one gets it,_ he thinks. _They don't know, no one's really alone but me —_

But there is an apology. He hasn't gotten one from anyone that seems sincere — and Nico doesn't want apologies, he just wants his sister back.

Maybe it's the bright light, but Nico feels a little bit better. Maybe it's just that sad, sad look, but Nico accepts her sorries and he shoulders his pack and he moves on.


End file.
